“Game of Thrones” Star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau To Lead Alex Proyas’ “Gods of Egypt”

June 5, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

nikolaj-coster-waldau “Game of Thrones”‘ conniving Jaime Lannister is looking to conquer the big screen as well. The Wrap reports Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau has landed the lead role in director Alex Proyas’ big budget period actioner “Gods of Egypt.”

Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama wrote the script, which sets the action in ancient Egypt against the backdrop of the pyramids and sphinxes. Coster-Waldau will play Horus, the god of the sky, who “teams up with a human thief and Hathor, the goddess of love, on a magical quest to avenge the death of his father, Osiris.”

Though he’s been steadily acting in Hollywood in supporting roles and on television for years, Coster-Waldau certainly has hit another level thanks to the career-changing coup of landing one of the major series regular roles on HBO’s hit “Game of Thrones”, which is now heading towards its season three conclusion. Don’t worry, it’ll be back for plenty more. Coster-Waldau most recently appeared opposite Jessica Chastain in surprise horror hit “Mama” and also had a supporting role opposite Tom Cruise in sci-fi actioner “Oblivion.” He’s currently filming the male lead role in romantic comedy “The Other Woman” opposite Cameron Diaz.

Keira Knightley Joining Benedict Cumberbatch in Alan Turing Biopic “The Imitation Game”

June 4, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

keiraknightley British actress Keira Knightley is in talks to join Benedict Cumberbatch in “The Imitation Game”, the biopic of tortured mathematical genius Alan Turing, according to Variety. Benedict was cast back in February, taking over the lead role that had once been earmarked for Leonardo Dicaprio.

Norwegian director Morten Tyldum is helming the film about British mathematician Turing, who helped the Allies defeat the Germans by cracking the enemy’s “Enigma Code” during WWII, but a decade later was prosecuted by his own government for being a homosexual. Rather than take a prison sentence, he chose chemical castration, an act that would lead him into the pits of depression and ultimately suicide. There are no details about Knightley’s role, though Variety suggests it’s another prestige project for the Oscar-nominated actress.

Knightley has one of the most diverse portfolios among young actresses her age, having shot to fame thanks to “Pirates of the Caribbean” but quickly proving her acting chops in films like “Atonement”, “Pride and Prejudice” and last year’s “Anna Karenina”, all of which had Joe Wright in the director’s chair. She’s also worked with David Cronenberg on “A Dangerous Method” and recently wrapped up Kenneth Branagh’s action franchise launcher “Jack Ryan” opposite Chris Pine. She’s also wrapped filming on musical drama “Can a Song Save Your Life?” opposite Mark Ruffalo and recently replaced Anne Hathaway in Lynn Shelton’s indie comedy “Laggies.”

Robert Sheehan, Dev Patel and Zoe Kravitz to Travel “The Road Within”

June 4, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

roadwithin Indie road trip dramedy “The Road Within” has cast rising young actors Robert Sheehan, Dev Patel and Zoe Kravtiz, according to Deadline. Gren Wells is making her directorial debut on the project which she also wrote.

Filming kicks off on July 1st with Sheehan in the role of Vincent, a young man with Tourette’s who’s placed in a facility his mother dies and he’s estranged from his politician father on the campaign trail. On a quest to take his mother’s ashes to scatter in the ocean, he breaks out of the home with his roommate (Patel), who has OCD, and Kravitz’s character, suffering from anorexia.

Irish actor Sheehan rose to fame on hit UK series “Misfits” and plays Simon in this summer’s YA adaptation “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones” opposite Lily Collins. Kravitz, currently seen in “After Earth” with Smiths Will and Jaden, will get her turn in YA-land in next March’s “Divergent”, in which she plays Christina opposite Shailene Woodley. Patel broke out in Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winning “Slumdog Millionaire” and soon returns for season 2 of HBO’s “The Newsroom.”

Boyd Holbrook to Star in “Little Accidents”, Joins “Jane Got a Gun”

June 3, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

boyd-holbrook Busy rising star Boyd Holbrook has booked a pair of upcoming roles, according to The Wrap. The Kentucky-born model turned actor has joined troubled Western “Jane Got a Gun” opposite Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor and Joel Edgerton, as well as indie drama “Little Accidents” in which he’ll play the lead role opposite Elizabeth Banks.

Holbrook will shoot the already filming “Jane” first for director Gavin O’Connor. After a serious case of cast and crew musical chairs, lensing is now underway in New Mexico on the tale of a woman (Portman) who must defend her home after a violent gang of outlaws (led by McGregor) pursues her injured husband. She turns to an ex-lover (Edgerton) for help. Holbrook will play McGregor’s younger brother, presumably another member of his gang.

In “Little Accidents”, Holbrook will play a young coal miner who survives a tragic accident that killed all 12 other miners. Banks will play a woman whose son went missing in the accident and turns to Holbrook’s character for comfort. The Wrap also notes the role may have personal poinancy for Holbrook whose father was a coal miner. Sara Colangelo wrote and will direct “Little Accidents”, adapted from her own Sundance award-winning short film.

Holbook is one of our Faces to Watch in 2013, with roles in Andrew Niccol’s sci-fi actioner “The Host” starring Saoirse Ronan, Naomi Foner’s Sundance premiere “Very Good Girls” opposite Elizabeth Olsen and Dakota Fanning, Scott Cooper’s revenge thriller “Out of the Furnace” with Christian Bale and Terrence Malick’s untitled Texas-set romantic drama opposite Portman and Michael Fassbender on the docket this year.

“Doctor Who” Alum Karen Gillan to Play Female Villain in “Guardians of the Galaxy”

May 31, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

karen-gillan Marvel’s Phase 2 blockbuster “Guardians of the Galaxy” has added “Doctor Who” star Karen Gillan, according to THR. She joins Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, David Bautista, Glenn Close, Michael Rooker, Ophelia Lovibond and Lee Pace in the James-Gunn directed intergalactic actioner.

Pratt plays Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, the leader of the Guardians. Saldana plays green-skinned warrior Gamora, Bautista is the brawny Drax the Destroyer and Rooker iss Yondu on the side of the good guys. Pace is the villainous The Collector and Lovibond plays his aide. Details of Gillan’s role are unclear but she will be the lead female villain. A June production start is scheduled in the UK, with “Guardians of the Galaxy” already set for an August 1, 2014 release.

Gillan recently left “Doctor Who” after playing the Doctor’s companion, Amy Pond, for four years. She’s got a cult following due to this role, and she has already booked plenty of film roles since, including indie British comedy “Not Another Happy Ending”, co-starring fellow up and comer Jessica Brown Findlay and horror “Oculus” wit Brenton Thwaites. She’s currently filming indie rom com “The List” with Jennifer Morrison.

Newcomer Katherine Waterston to Play Shasta in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Inherent Vice”

May 30, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

katherine-waterston Amidst an all-star cast, a relatively unknown young actress has landed the female lead role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s “Inherent Vice.” Deadline reports Katherine Waterston has landed the role of Shasta Fay Hepworth in the Joaquin Phoenix-led film, which also boasts a cast that includes Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Reese Witherspoon, Jena Malone, Martin Short and Owen Wilson.

Phoenix plays Larry “Doc” Sportello, a pothead/private investigator in 1970s Los Angeles, who’s paid a visit by his ex-girlfriend Shasta with concerns that there may be a plot to harm her new boyfriend, a rich businessman. Soon enough both of them go missing and Doc encounters a large, colorful cast of characters in his quest to track them down. Waterston will play that ex-girlfriend and it’s still pretty murky exactly who the rest of the A-Listers in the cast will play, though Wilson is reported to be playing the key role of Coy Harlingen, who appears to have died in a drug overdose but is very much a part of the entire twisty turvy story. Filming may already be taking place in Los Angeles, with plenty more casting presumably still to come.

Waterston is the daughter of veteran “Law & Order” actor Sam Waterston and recently appeared on HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” and recently wrapped supporting roles in “The Diappearance of Eleanor Rigby” opposite James McAvoy and Jessica Chastian and Kelly Reichardt’s “Night Moves” with Jesse Eisenebrg and Dakota Fanning.

Lucas Till Takes the Decks in New Indie Drama “Strings”

May 29, 2013 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Casting Leave a comment

Lucas Till will takes the decks and then leave them as he makes the leap into leading man status with new indie film “Strings“.

Also starring Maria Bello and Tom Everett Scott, the film will be directed by Daniel Duran and follows a New York based DJ (Till) who decides to take some time for himself and travel to his father’s house in North Dakota after discovering the pressures of fame. Variety reports that, along the way, he meets a girl (don’t they all?) who makes a huge change in his life. No word yet on who will play Till’s presumed love interest.

Till, who starred as Havok in “X-Men: First Class” alongside Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult, nearly won a hotly anticipated leading male role earlier this year, as he was one of a trio of young Hollywood actors who were vying for the role of Four in Neil Burger’s adaptation “Divergent“. He went on to join Aimee Teegarden in horror pic “The Curse of Downer’s Grove” but Till has mostly made a name for himself in supporting roles so far, most recently seen in Chan-wook Park’s “Stoker” starring Mia Wasikowska and next on screen in thriller “Paranoia” which Liam Hemsworth takes the lead in.

Henry Cavill May Replace Tom Cruise to Join Armie Hammer in “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”

May 28, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

henry-cavill Tom Cruise is out of Guy Ritchie’s remake of spy series “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” and now THR reports new Superman Henry Cavill is in talks to replace him. Cavill will join Armie Hammer and Alicia Vikander, who is still in negotiations for the female lead role.

This is the 1960s buddy cop comedy style spy series that Warner Bros has been trying to put together for the big screen for some time, with previous iterations featuring Soderbergh behind the camera, Clooney in front, etc. and which suffered another setback when Cruise dropped out. Now Cavill is in line for the Napoleon Solo role, with Hammer as his sidekick Illya Kuryakin. The two work for United Network Command for Law Enforcement (or U.N.C.L.E.) and use their charm, wit and advanced spy technology on missions. Vikander is taking the role a British agent with U.N.C.L.E. who “has a thing for cars.” She will be an original character who did not appear in the original TV series.

The British star of “The Tudors” is one of our Faces to Watch in 2013 thanks to one major make or break moment: On June 14, 2013 Cavill will don the iconic red cape of Superman in Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel.” In the meantime, studios already had him on their radar for other such potential tentpoles as “Godzilla” and “Tarzan.”

Casting Hillary: Our Picks for James Ponsoldt’s “Rodham”

May 28, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge and Rebecca Lewis in Features 7 Comments

hilary

She’s one of the most iconic and polarizing politicians working today so it’s no surprise that a biopic of Hillary Clinton is on its way to the big screen. James Ponsoldt, critically acclaimed director of “Smashed” and “The Spectacular Now”, has been picked to direct Young Il Kim’s Black List script “Rodham,” focusing not on the powerful figure she is today, but the woman who would become her one day.

Kim’s script follows Clinton’s early career in the 1970s when she was just Hillary Rodham, a recent Yale Law school graduate, juggling the demands of a career in Washington DC and life as the girlfriend of an aspiring Arkansan politician whose presence was exceeded only by his ambitions, before the White House called, before a failed health care plan, before the American public turned on her.

Now a hugely popular, recently retired Secretary of State of four years, a former New York Senator for six years, the First Lady of the United States for eight years and a once (and future?) Presidential candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton is, perhaps more than anyone else in the American political landscape, one of our most divisive leaders – so there is a lot of detail here for an actress to sink their (political) teeth in to.

With names like Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Chastain rumored to be in the running, we actually think that a script and a subject such as this matched with Ponsoldt creates the exciting possibility of an awards worthy performance coming out of a younger actress on the verge instead. But which rising stars could pull this off? We suggest ten names below.

Set Photos Reveal Joel Courtney and Liana Liberato Filming “Dear Eleanor” with Isabelle Fuhrman

May 24, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

dear-eleanorsm We learned just earlier today that “The Hunger Games” star Isabelle Fuhrman is in the midst of filming her next film, and now we have news of who her co-stars are, as well as the first photos from the Boulder, Co. set. Just Jared has the first photos of Fuhrman as well as “Super 8″ star Joel Courtney and Liana Liberato of the upcoming “Stuck in Love” filming a piggyback scene for 1960s’ set road trip drama “Dear Eleanor.”

“Entourage” star Kevin Connolly is directing the coming of age tale about two best friends (Liberato and Fuhrman) who go on a road trip across the country in search of Eleanor Roosevelt. The film also stars Jessica Alba, Ione Skye and Josh Lucas, who plays real life Alcatraz escapee Frank Morris. No word on who, if anyone, will play Roosevelt, who would have been near her deathbed at age 78 based on the timeline of the film.

The first photos of Fuhrman, Courtney and Liberato are below, and Just Jared has a few more. This is an indie, so no distribution news just yet.

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